Broadband Breakfast on September 3, 2025 - States and the BEAD Deadline

Highlights Reel

Full Video

As the September 4, 2025 deadline for states to submit their final proposals under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program fast approaches, broadband officers are working quickly to align their grants with the Commerce Department’s June 6 guidelines. At the same time, low-Earth orbit satellite providers are systematically underbidding BEAD locations. Some states have asked the Commerce Department for extensions, citing legal constraints and scaling issues. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s lowest-cost-per-location guidelines has sparked an uproar among internet service providers, many of whom noted that they would not reapply for a slice of the $42.45 billion broadband funding program. Amid this battle of the bids, a concern about reliability and resilience have arisen. How are states navigating BEAD before the new deadline?

Panelists

• Bree Maki, Executive Director, Minnesota Office of Broadband Development
• Bryant Clayton, Broadband Development Office Director, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
• Andrew Butcher, President, Maine Connectivity Authority
• Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Bree Maki was appointed by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in October of
2022 to serve as the Executive Director of the Office of Broadband Development. She previously served as a Senior Outreach Director and the State Broadband and Telecommunications Director for Minnesota U.S. Senator Tina Smith, and prior for Senator Al Franken. She previously worked as the Office Administrator for Winona County Soil and Water Conservation District.
In 2023, she was appointed to serve on the Governor’s Infrastructure Resiliency Advisory Board and in 2024 appointed to the Minnesota Advisory Council on Infrastructure.

Bryant Clayton serves as the Texas Broadband Development Office director within the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Clayton first joined the Comptroller’s office in 2011 after beginning his career in the banking sector. A trusted leader, he has represented the agency in front of legislative bodies, at statewide commission hearings and in interviews with local and national news outlets.

Andrew Butcher is the inaugural president of The Maine Connectivity Authority a new quasi-governmental agency serving as the primary entity charged with achieving universal access of affordable high-speed broadband in the state of Maine. By balancing investments in projects, places and people MCA is advancing digital equity for all. Butcher has over 15 years in community and economic development, social entrepreneurship and connected infrastructure. Prior to his role at MCA he founded an internationally recognized non-profit, served as director of the Maine Broadband Coalition and helped advance numerous innovation and resilience initiatives in Maine.

Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing tool to collect and verify broadband data left unpublished by the Federal Communications Commission. As CEO and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media community advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.